When Arizona State suffered its first loss of the season two weeks ago at Oregon, some Sun Devils fans thought it was the end of the world. Running back Keegan Herring knew better.

In the last 10 months, Herring has buried his father, who was fatally shot; buried his best friend, who was fatally shot; buried his sister, who was killed in a car crash; and buried an aunt, who keeled over at her desk at work and died of a heart attack.

One of the ways Herring deals with his grief is to count the smiles he sees on the faces of people he encounters on a daily basis – trainers, classmates, secretaries. He has counted between 200 and 300 per day.

Herring put smiles on the faces of a lot of Arizona State fans Saturday when he led the Sun Devils to a 24-20 win at UCLA, their first since 1996. Herring rushed for 116 yards, including a 71-yard TD run.

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Illinois didn’t just beat Ohio State, 28-21, Saturday, the Illini beat the Buckeyes up physically, holding the ball for the final 8:09. Illinois offensive lineman Martin O’Donnell said that under new offensive line coach Eric Wolford, the team practices four-minute drives.

“He told us there would be one or two games that came down to us running the ball to finish off an opponent,” said O’Donnell. “He must be psychic.”

When the Illini returned to Champaign, Ill., some 500 students, including members of the band and cheerleaders, met the plane. Other fans got into Memorial Stadium and tried to tear down the goal posts, with no success.

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LSU and Kansas control their own destinies as much as any teams can under the BCS system, Jerry Palm of CollegeBCS.com, a Web site that computes the BCS formula, told The Post.

If the Tigers win out, the worst they can probably finish is second. But the Tigers need style points. They have to win impressively at Mississippi and against Arkansas to keep the voters happy.

Undefeated Kansas possibly can pass LSU, but the Jayhawks must win out. If they beat Missouri (9-1) and win the Big 12 title game, the voters, who have the Jayhawks fourth in the polls, could jump them to second.

Oregon has a shot, but the Ducks could be hurt by the fact the Pac-10 doesn’t have a conference title game. It’s high risk, high reward.

Oklahoma could move into the BCS title game by winning out and beating Kansas or Missouri in the Big 12 championship game, but the Sooners might need other teams, such as Oregon, to lose.

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Clemson junior Cullen Harper is the quarterback having the best season under the radar. Harper entered the season having completed 15 passes. Thus far he has thrown 26 touchdown passes and been intercepted four times.

Harper wasn’t sure he’d get a fair shake at the starting job. When Clemson brought in highly-touted South Carolina prep prospect Willy Korn, it was assumed Korn would be the starter.

Harper said he had a conversation with coach Tommy Bowden before the season, and Bowden assured Harper the job was up for grabs. Harper also conferred with his father, Jeff Harper, who was an offensive lineman on Georgia’s 1980 national title squad.

“He told me not to worry about things I can’t control, like what the fans or media were saying, and just worry about what I could control,” Cullen Harper said.